BSc (Hons) Astrophysics and Chemistry with International or Placement Year

Choosing our combined honours in Astrophysics and Chemistry will help you develop skills and experience in two engaging and exciting subjects.

In astrophysics you will apply physics to understanding how the universe works and you could possibly explore questions like 'Is there an Earth-like planet around another star?' 'Is there a black hole at the centre of every galaxy?' And 'Why is the expansion of the Universe accelerating?' These are questions that astrophysics helps you discover the answer to. From the technology we use to how we treat illnesses, chemistry is essential to our modern life and offers a wide variety of career opportunities in many fields from pharmaceuticals and food technology to forensics and teaching.

This course will provide you with a solid grounding in the underpinning theory of both subject areas with plenty of hands-on practical experience in Keele's state-of-the-art laboratories and opportunities to personalise your learning by choosing from a range of optional modules.

Astrophysics will give you the quantitative and analytic skills needed for analysing data and solving problems and is underpinned by a core physics curriculum as set out by the Institute of Physics. This includes the fundamentals of classical and quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, optics, thermodynamics, solid state, atomic and nuclear physics, together with the mathematics that is used to describe them. We have our own observatory here at Keele that students on this combined honours programme can get involved with on a volunteer basis with the potential to learn some astronomical techniques.

As you progress, you will build on your existing knowledge in familiar core areas of astrophysics including mechanics, special relativity, nature of matter, gravitation, electricity, oscillations, and waves. You will also focus on areas like the basics of stellar structure and stellar astrophysics. Later in your degree you will study electromagnetism at a deeper level, and have the option of studying cosmology, binary stellar systems and exoplanets, black holes and gravitational waves. In your final year you will be involved in a group project. In recent years these have been based on the analysis of data from NASA's Kepler and Tess missions and Keele's own robotic observatory in South Africa. The projects often contribute to the research conducted within the Keele astrophysics group.

The course will also enable you to build a strong grounding in core chemistry knowledge and will carefully guide you in understanding the mathematics underpinning chemistry. Particular attention is paid to building your practical skills and you will have access to various types of research standard equipment - such as our ultra-violet visible spectrometry which is used to follow the rate of reactions of molecules that contain chromophores. Chemistry laboratory work is an integral part of our programme that helps you to develop a variety of practical, computational and transferrable skills that employers value.

To provide context to the knowledge you are learning, you will also look at ways in which chemistry is applied to sustainable development and the environment. You will examine the political, social and economic impacts and explore topics like nuclear chemistry and energy, geochemistry, health and toxicology and green chemistry.

Throughout the course you will expand your theoretical knowledge and practical skills and start to specialise in studying areas like spectroscopy and investigate core advanced modules including physical and inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry and a wide range of analytical techniques and their applications to solving problems in analytical chemistry.

To develop your appreciation of the wider context of chemistry, optional modules provide the opportunity to also explore the economic, international and sustainability issues surrounding industrial chemistry. We provide you with the opportunity to align your Astrophysics and Chemistry BSc to your career aspirations and interests by choosing from a variety of optional modules in your final year.

In an increasingly competitive job marketing, employers are seeking to recruit employees who have high-level knowledge, skills and an understanding of the workplace. Between years two and three of your degree, you can spend a year gaining practical experience with a chemistry focussed company or organisation. This will benefit you by providing familiarisation with the professional working environment and the opportunity to apply the chemistry skills and theories you have learnt.